


Being One with the Water

by Crematosis



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Amnesia, Angst and Fluff and Smut, BAMF Steve Rogers, BAMF Tony Stark, Community: avengerkink, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Merpeople, Mildly Dubious Consent, Mpreg, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Temporary Amnesia, Transformation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-10-29 06:39:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10848516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crematosis/pseuds/Crematosis
Summary: Tony finds himself kidnapped by a businessman with a thing for mermaids.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BWolf_20](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BWolf_20/gifts).



> Yes, yes, I know....I have way too many things in progress to be starting a new one, but my muses reacted very strongly to this one and if I don't work on it, I'll have graphic sex scenes stuck in my head all day while I'm at work and I'll never get anything done.
> 
> I stuck a dub-con tag on there because while Tony and Steve are quite happy to have sex with each other, they're not exactly aware of who they really are, so I figured I'd tag it just in case.

Tony absently swirled the scotch in the bottom of his glass as he listened to the man talk. Errol something or other. He hadn’t really been paying close attention when he introduced himself.

Pepper would know. Pepper was always on about addressing people by name instead of whatever nickname Tony made up. But really, how was supposed to remember the name of everybody he ever interacted with? There were hundreds of employees at Stark Industries alone. And then there were the outside contractors, construction crews, government liaisons, and any number of people ready with ideas for new Stark products.

The Errol guy fell under the last category. He had come up to Tony at the last charity gala with claims of a revolutionary new fuel injection system that would improve the Quinjet’s efficiency almost thirty percent.

Tony had disliked him on the spot. He reminded him way too much of Aldrich Killian. He looked like a normal, middle-aged businessman with thinning hair, but the desperate eagerness to talk about his project just seemed to echo Killian’s obsession.

Pepper, of course thought he was being ridiculous. She had reminded him of all the other people’s ideas Tony had brushed off that very night.

Okay, so maybe Tony wasn’t good at working with others. He was trying to do better.

So when Tony had happened to run into Errol on a late-night Starbucks run, he had thought, why not? Why not just get it over with and listen to his sales pitch for an hour? Then when he decided not to work with him, he could at least tell Pepper he had given the guy the benefit of the doubt.

But Tony had only been sitting in the man’s den for half an hour and he was already bored. All Errol really seemed to want to talk about were his team of scientists and their amazing work doing something with chemicals Tony really didn’t care about.

Tony took another swallow of his scotch and tried to suppress a yawn.

“More scotch, Mr. Stark?” Errol asked with what was probably meant to be a reassuring smile.

“Sure,” Tony said. It was good scotch, probably the only good thing about the entire meeting.

Errol smiled as he poured Tony another full glass. “I’m a martini man myself, but I agree scotch is best over business deals. My father used to measure the length of a meeting by how many glasses of scotch it took to get through it.”

Tony hid a grimace around the mouth of the glass. God, this man was so insufferable. It wasn’t even midnight yet and Tony was already feeling like calling it a night. He could doze off right on the sofa. It was a pretty comfortable sofa. So, maybe the second good thing about the entire meeting.

“More scotch, Mr. Stark?”

Tony blinked. “Didn’t you-didn’t you just?” He was a little surprised to find his glass was almost empty again.

“It’s good scotch, isn’t it? Goes down nice and smooth. You barely feel it.”

Wow, had he actually dozed off for a second? Tony was long past feeling any shame. Some people really were that boring and he couldn’t help that, no matter what Pepper said. They key was that Errol hadn’t taken offense.

“I think ‘m good,” Tony mumbled. Maybe he had a reputation for impulsive behavior, but it was a bad idea to do any business negotiations drunk.

“Nonsense,” Errol said. “The night is young and we’ve just gotten to the exciting part.”

Oh, the exciting part, was it? Tony had seen more excitement in a graveyard.

Errol raised his own glass and took a delicate sip. “We have a long night ahead of us, like a long, slow burn. Fitting, isn’t it?”

Tony took a sip and with great effort, set the glass down on the coffee table. “I really, I need to call a cab I think.” Everything was starting to blur around him and there was no way he’d be able to read any of Errol’s papers.

“Leaving so soon?” Errol said. “But there’s so much work to be done.”

“I can’t.” Tony rose unsteadily to his feet, clutching his head as the room swam.

Jesus. He had only had three glasses and he was already three sheets to the wind.

Errol was at his side in an instant. “I’ll make sure you get home safely, Mr. Stark. But perhaps one more drink for the road.”

“No, that’s, I think that’s a bad idea,” Tony protested, but when the drink was pressed into his hands, he couldn’t do much to fight it.

“That’s it,” Errol said as he took away the empty glass. “Feeling better now, aren’t you?”

“Think I need to lie down for awhile,” Tony murmured, collapsing back onto the couch.

—-

Tony woke up with a blistering headache and the desire to curl under his blankets until the horrible bright daylight was gone. But to his surprise, he found he couldn’t roll over.

He pried his eyes open and sucked in a breath at the sight before him. He couldn’t roll over because he was on a hospital gurney with restraints over his waist, chest, and legs and an I.V. in his left arm.

How the hell had he ended up in the hospital? He made a point of telling everyone he knew to never take him to a hospital under pain of death.

Actually, now that Tony’s eyes had started to adjust, it didn’t look much like a hospital. It was a big, open room and there were plenty of men in white coats looking at things under microscopes and mixing chemical concoctions at different stations.

Oh fuck, it was some kind of underground lab.

Goddamnit, Tony had known the guy was crazy like Killian. But instead of kidnapping Pepper, he had taken him. When he got out of here, he was never letting her hear the end of it.

“Good, you’re finally awake,” Errol said at his side.

Tony turned his head to glare at him. “What the hell do you want from me? There’s no way in hell I’m building any weapons for you.”

“No, Mr. Stark. We have other plans for you.” The man held up a framed painting.

It had obviously been done by a talented artist. Tony would have assumed it was a photograph if he didn’t know mermen were just fantasy creatures. And he had spent enough time with Steve to know how hard it was to make art look realistic. It had to have taken hours and hours and hours to make the crimson scales look like they had texture, like they reflected the golden rays of sunlight streaming through the water. And then somehow create the effect of water over the bronze skin and the dark hair streaming behind him. Weirdly, the merman’s face looked a lot like Tony’s. The similarities were uncanny. But then, that probably explained the whole kidnapping. The guy had to be a crazed fan.

If the guy was kidnapping him so he’d praise his artwork, well, Tony didn’t have a problem with that. With the kidnapping part, sure, but being forced to look at nice art was by far the most harmless thing a villain had ever done.

“It’s a real nice piece,” Tony said. “It’d look good in the den. If you let me go, I’ll give you half a mil for it.”

Errol smiled. “I’m afraid not, Mr. Stark. I think you’d look much better in my den.”

Tony’s stomach dropped as the implication sunk in. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he said. “There’s no way you can make me a merman. Maybe you’ve seen Bucky and thought ‘hey, that could work’, but trust me, it won’t. You can’t just saw off my legs and stick a fish tail on me. I’ll die.”

“I wouldn’t dream of anything so barbaric,” Errol said with a shake of his head. “When I first decided I wanted a merman of my own, I hired several scientists to start working on a transformation serum for me. And now it’s finally ready. They’re very capable men and I assure you it’s perfectly safe.”

Tony squirmed against the restraints. He had a very different idea of “perfectly safe”. 

“Can I get you anything while we wait?” Errol inquired. “Another drink, perhaps?”

“Oh, fuck you,” Tony said. “I’m not taking anything from you.”

“Are you sure? It’ll be your last drink as a human.” Errol stroked the I.V. bag. “The transformation serum is already working its way through your veins.”

“Doesn’t seem to be working,” Tony said, noting with satisfaction that the I.V. bag was almost empty. He didn’t feel any different and when he had checked out the restraints earlier, he hadn’t seen any sign of a tail.

“Give it time,” Errol said. “The transformation process is very complex and we want to do things gradually to make it easier on your body.”

“It’s not going to work,” Tony insisted. “Turning someone into a merman is impossible.”

“That’s what they said about the Supersoldier Serum, isn’t it? That there was no way they could do anything with such a small subject? And look how Captain America turned out.”

“Okay, that’s not the same thing at all. The serum just made Steve a better man. Increased strength, increased stamina, bigger muscles. It didn't turn him into a fucking mythological creature.”

“For a creative genius, you’re awfully unimaginative. But I’m so certain that it will work that I’ve already made all the preparations for your new home after the transformation. Kevin, will you show Mr. Stark the habitat?”

One of the scientists reached up and flicked a switch on the wall. With a loud, hydraulic groan, the back wall slid away to reveal a giant tank.

“I spared no expense,” Errol said proudly. “This whole thing is fifty feet deep and extends all the way up into the den upstairs. I lost almost 300 square feet from my living space, but the sacrifice was worth it. I had to have plenty of room for my beautiful pet to swim and for some nice seaweed and this underwater cave to complete the habitat. I think you’ll really love your new home.”

“I don’t know if anybody’s ever told you this, but I don’t do caves,” Tony said, staring uneasily at the monstrous rock formation. He had no way to tell, but he was pretty sure the thing stretched all the way to the top of the tank.

“PTSD after your captivity in Afghanistan. Yes, I’ve heard. But with my transformation serum, you’ll have a clean slate. No more nightmares to plague you. Just the total freedom of your new life.”

“You’re insane,” Tony said. “Absolutely insane. You think you can kidnap me, transform me into a merman and then make me enjoy it? Abso-fucking-lutely insane.”

“It’s happening as we speak,” Errol said, gesturing to the empty I.V. bag. “Donovan, will you start another I.V. drip for Mr. Stark?”

“Right away, sir.” Another one of the scientists approached Tony’s side and began working on attaching another I.V. bag. He smiled down at Tony. “We’re about halfway through the process. It shouldn’t be much longer now before you start seeing results.”

Tony swallowed convulsively. “You know who I am, right?”

“Of course, Mr. Stark.” He looked back over his shoulder with a smile. “The boss would have no one else. From the moment he saw that stunning aerial rescue in Virginia, he’s talked non-stop about how graceful you’d look swimming through the water.”

Tony suppressed a shudder. So apparently he’d had a crazed stalker for over a year and he hadn’t had a clue. Oh, Pepper had been so right. He really needed to start paying more attention to the people he interacted with.

“You’re not going to get away with this,” he said sternly. It was hard to seem threatening while strapped down on a gurney, but Tony put as much force into his glare as he could. “My team will come for me and when they do, they’ll make you wish you had drowned yourself in that stupid tank.”

“And how will they find you? No one knows you’re here. We just ran into each other in Starbucks, you remember?”

Goddamnit, he was right. But his team was the best in the world. Surely somebody would notice he was missing, figure out he had to have gone out for coffee, and track him down to Errol’s mansion.

He shifted uneasily in the restraints. There was no telling how long he had already been down here. Only a few hours, probably. Not long enough for anybody to miss him and start looking for him. But it felt like a lot longer. His back was protesting the time spent lying on the stupid gurney and his skin chafed under the restraints. And if he was being really honest, he was almost thirsty enough to want the drink Errol had offered him. But fuck that guy. Tony wasn’t going to take anything from him. It was probably spiked again.

“You can feel it, can’t you?” Errol said in a low voice, his eyes wide with delight. “The transformation is starting.”

“I don’t feel shit,” Tony insisted. “Nothing’s happening.”

Errol patted Tony’s shoulder. “It’s a long, slow process to be sure, but I can already see the changes happening. We need to do so much more than just give you a tail. You’ll need gills to breathe underwater, a protective layer over your eyes so they won’t be irritated by the saltwater, sharper teeth for your new-”

“Look, I’m the last person to judge anyone’s weird fetish, but you’ve put way too much thought into this.”

Goddamnit. His I.V. site was itching which made him want to yank the damn thing out even more. But the restraints kept him locked in place so well he could barely rub his arm against the gurney to get relief.

“i’m sure you’ll appreciate it later,” Errol said cheerfully. “When you’re happily thriving in your new home.”

So Errol was definitely insane. There was no other explanation for his reactions. Most villains got annoyed when Tony sassed them and threatened to gag him if he couldn’t keep quiet. But Errol was just so absorbed in his own plan that all of Tony’s mockery was coming across like regular conversation. And crazy people always seemed to live in their own reality.

God, Tony wished he could escape reality for just a little while. The itching was driving him crazy. It was radiating all the way up to his shoulder now. If he stopped focusing on it for a moment, the feeling would probably pass, but it wasn’t like Tony had anything better to do.

“So, I think your guy did the I.V. wrong,” Tony said, wiggling his fingers restlessly. “I’m going to get an infection.”

“I doubt it, Mr. Stark. Donovan is a highly trained professional. I hired him straight from the-”

“I don’t care where he’s from,” Tony cut in sharply. “He’s a fucking idiot. And so are you. Are you trying to kill me or what? Just what the hell did you put in this serum of yours?”

“Relax, Mr. Stark.”

“Relax? How the hell am I supposed to relax? My skin is on fire. I don’t know what the fuck is in this, but it’s giving me one hell of an allergic reaction.”

Errol frowned thoughtfully and reached down to undo the strap across Tony’s waist. He grasped Tony’s wrist and turned it over, apparently checking for any signs of a reaction. “No, everything appears to be just fine.”

Tony growled, ready to have more words about just what “just fine” mean when he made the mistake of looking down at his hands.

They weren’t his hands anymore. The fingers were long and slender, ending in a sharp, curved claw. And on the back of his hands was a layer of glittering gold and ruby red scales.

“Oh fuck,” Tony said faintly.

“You see?” Errol said cheerfully. “Everything is going according to plan.”

“I thought I was going to be a merman, not a fucking monster.” Tony shuddered as he turned his hands over to get a better look. Oh god, they were webbed at the bottom.

“They’re necessary for your survival. How do you expect to catch any fish without claws and eat them without sharper teeth?”

Tony sucked in a sharp breath. Fangs, too? What kind of creepy-ass mermaids had this guy been reading about?

He could feel the burning sensation spreading down his body in patches. A little bit on the back of his arm, a dusting over his shoulders, a ring around his collar bone, and a huge swath down his back. It was even worse when it got to his legs. The itch had barely started at his hip when pain shot down his spine. In a split second, it felt as if he had broken every single bone below the waist.

Tony howled with pain and arched upwards against the restraints.

The scientists crowded around him, tearing off his clothes in small strips. It was humiliating to be stripped naked like that, but also a great relief because his skin still felt like it was burning and the cool laboratory air was soothing. Tony got to see for himself as more scales slithered across his torso. They were a beautiful metallic red, which was fitting, because Tony felt like he was being dipped in molten metal.

“We need more space,” said one of the scientists and the gurney was yanked further into the lab.

“More space,” agreed another scientist and the restraining straps were finally removed.

Tony arched his back gratefully, relieved of the pressure. His legs still hurt like hell, especially on the back. They just felt so damn oversensitive that the padded gurney felt like it was lined with sandpaper. And the tile floor, while nice and cool against his burning skin, still felt like it was prickling his toes as they brushed-

Tony froze. With an effort, he raised himself up far enough to get a look at his legs. No wonder he felt like all his bones were broken. He probably didn’t have any bones left. His legs were just long, stretched out flesh tubes now.

“What the hell did you do to me?” Tony cried out in panic. Fuck, his voice wasn’t working right. There was this strange whistling noise behind all his words.

“Mr. Stark, I need you to stay calm.”

“I can’t breathe,” Tony gasped out. He clawed desperately at his throat.

“Get him into the water!” someone shouted.

Tony thrashed as the men lifted him off the gurney and started carrying him towards a huge bucket of water. “No, no, no. I don’t want this. I don’t want to be a fucking merman.”

They shoved him face-first into the water.

Tony screamed, but all that came out were bubbles.


	2. Chapter 2

Tony woke with a yawn and a luxurious stretch. Through half-lidded eyes, he watched as dozens of fish swam through the cave opening and out through the other side. He reached up, grabbed one of the fish in his claws and bit into it.

Mm, so good.

The other fish scattered in all directions, but that was fine. Tony was starting to feel more awake and a chase sounded fun.

With a flick of his powerful tail, Tony surged out of the cave, chasing a school of parrotfish as they fled upwards. He chased them around and around the giant rock formation as they darted through every little cave opening they could find. Tony followed them easily. They were fast, but he was just keeping pace with them. 

Just as Tony’s outstretched hands were beginning to touch the slowest fish’s tail fin, the whole school abruptly changed course and darted out into open water.

Tony saw the distortion in the water, but he was moving too fast to change course in time and he slammed headlong into the solid barrier.

Tony shook his head vigorously. to clear away the dizziness. Glass. Definitely something to keep in mind. He pressed his palms against the glass. Where had it come from, and more importantly, why was it in his way?

He swam upwards slowly, following the line of the glass. It stretched upwards for an interminably long time, but finally Tony broke the surface of the water. He blinked, the protective membrane over his eyes sliding back. Now that he could see clearly, he glanced around.

The glass stretched out a lot further than he had initially though, forming a large rectangle around the water. He was in a tank, he realized with dismay. Well, at least it was a decent-sized tank. There was that big cave underwater, some nice soft sand to sleep in, and a nice, flat slab of rock above the water that looked perfect for basking in the sunlight.

Yeah, it was a pretty nice living arrangement once Tony really thought about it.

“Ah, you’re finally awake, my pet.”

Tony glanced down at the human man standing outside the tank. Well, this was interesting. He curled his hands over the top of the glass wall and lifted his torso out of the water to get a better look at the man.

The man reached up and stroked his flank. “How do you like your home? A free spirit such as yourself is not suited for captivity, but you seem to have adapted well.”

Tony trilled happily. So this human had set up the tank just for him. It was kind of flattering, to be honest.

“I’ve made sure there’s plenty of fish to keep you happy, but perhaps you’d like a special treat.” The human held up a large, wriggling salmon.

Tony leaned forward eagerly, tracking the salmon’s movements. The tropical fish swimming around the tank were delicious, but they were all so small. Barely a few bites. This salmon looked like a substantial meal. And he wouldn’t even have to hunt it down.

The man held the salmon just out of reach. “Not yet, my pet. This will be your reward if you do as I ask.”

Tony huffed and sank down into the water until only his eyes were above the glass. He wanted that salmon, damnit. And he didn’t want to work for it.

“We’ll start with something easy,” the human assured him. “I just want to get a feel for what you’re capable of.”

Tony blew bubbles in the water to show just what he thought of that idea.

“Come now,” the human said sternly. “Don’t be so difficult. You do want this salmon, don’t you?” He held the salmon a little closer. Oh so tantalizingly close. But still out of range of Tony’s claws.

Tony growled in the back of his throat and pushed himself upwards. Fine. He’d do whatever stupid thing the human wanted. He’d cooperate just long enough to get his salmon and then he was leaving.

The human pointed upwards. “You see that ball overhead?”

Tony looked up, surprised to see a beach ball suspended by a string over the tank. 

“I want you to touch it,” the human said.

Tony squinted upwards and reached up with one hand. No luck. His claws wouldn’t even brush against it.

“You can do better than that,” the human said. “Let me see you jump for it.”

Tony eyed the ball, swishing his tail slowly as he considered the distance. He let himself sink a little deeper into the water and then with a powerful thrust of his tail, he cleared the water and reached out with one claw-tip to poke the ball. It burst open immediately and Tony fell back into the water with a startled hiss.

“It’s okay,” the human said soothingly. “It’s not going to hurt you.”

Tony kept a wary distance from the ball anyway and kept glancing up at the shriveled form.

“Your claws are certainly sharper than I imagined,” the human mused. “But nothing to be concerned about.” He smiled brightly. “We’ll learn as we go along and adapt as necessary.”

Tony thumped his tail against the glass. He had done what the human asked. He had touched the stupid ball and had it explode in his face for his troubles. And now the human wanted to talk instead of giving him the salmon he had rightfully earned.

“Well, a deal’s a deal,” the human said with a shrug. “Catch.” He tossed the salmon over the glass wall.

Tony leapt for it, grabbing it before it hit the water. With a deft motion, he snapped the fish’s spine and then he bit down into it. Okay, it had been worth the trouble it had taken to get it.

He adjusted his grip on the fish and then dove back down to the bottom of the tank and into the cave to eat the rest of his fish in peace. With a full belly, he felt like taking another nap. On the one hand, it would be easy to just curl back up in the sand and sleep. On the other hand, he was really itching to lay out on the flat rock and bask for a little while. Dealing with the human again would be a nuisance, but since he had already made Tony touch the ball, maybe he would be satisfied and go away.

Tony swam resolutely upwards and broke the surface. To his displeasure, the human was unfortunately still there.

“Hello again, my pet,” the man greeted him.

Tony ignored him and hauled himself up onto the flat rock. The surface of the rock was pleasantly warm and Tony rolled around on it, delighting in how it felt against his skin. Eventually, he sprawled out on his back, lazily flicking his tail and watching as the light hit his scales. Maybe it was a little vain, but he couldn’t help admiring how he glittered under the light. Red scales tipped with gold. None of the fish had coloring that awesome. So he could probably be forgiven for preening just a little.

After half an hour of blissful basking, Tony’s skin started to feel dry and tight and he had to dive back into the water. The cool water was exhilaratingly refreshing on his heated skin and Tony was so delighted by the sensation that he immediately hauled himself back out of the water to warm up again and prepare for another dive back into the cold water. The human was probably watching and judging him for being ridiculous, but Tony didn’t care. He was having way too much fun to worry about what he thought.

Tony tired of the game after another three dives in and out of the water. He drifted idly back under the surface until a yellow tang darted by and he decided to give chase. He wasn’t hungry at the moment, but chasing fish was so fun.

He swam all around the tank, picking out different fish to chase. Eventually, even that no longer interested him. It was getting darker, Tony realized belatedly. He had spent the whole day chasing fish and now he was tired. 

Tony snagged one last fish for a late-night snack and then headed back into the cave. The indentation in the sand was still there from when the morning and Tony curled back into the spot with a sigh of relief. He stroked his hand over his golden tail flukes, using the dying light to carefully clean out bits of sand that had gotten into the grooves before he let one fluke fall to cover his face. He was planning on sleeping late the next morning and he didn’t want the sun to wake him.

In the end, it was Tony’s rumbling stomach that woke him. He uncurled slowly and rubbed a hand over his empty belly.

After all the time he had spent chasing the fish yesterday, they were more wary of him now and he couldn’t reach up and snag one like he had done before. Still, he couldn’t find it in him to feel remorse. He had had a blast chasing the fish and he couldn’t wait to do it again.

But first, breakfast.

Tony stalked his prey carefully, skimming the bottom of the tank as he weaved his way between stalks of seaweed. The fish were busy feeding, picking off bits and pieces from the rock. Tony waited until his target, a plump parrotfish had dipped down almost to the sandy bottom before he pounced, wrestling the fish into his arms. The fish was a feisty one and it thrashed and wiggled until Tony bit down, severing its spine. 

All the fuss had kicked up quite a bit of sand, much to Tony’s annoyance. He swam upwards to get out of the murky water.

Before he knew it, he was breaking the surface. He glanced around quickly for the human and was pleased to see he was gone. It was great to have a moment to himself without being watched.

Tony hauled himself up on the sunning rock and relaxed in the delicious heat. It had been a great morning so far and Tony found himself moved to start singing. 

“They’ve outdone themselves,” the human said in a tone of awe.

Oh no, he was back. And they? Tony flicked an irritated glance over to the human. If the man had invited more insufferable humans to-

Oh. It was just the one man. And he had fish. A whole bucket of fish.

Tony dove off the rock and swam eagerly over to the side of the tank. The fish were all so small, just a mouthful each. But there were so many of them. Tony longed to dunk his head in the bucket and gorge himself on all the fish.

“You have such a beautiful voice,” the human said, reaching up with one hand to stroke Tony’s head. “Soothing and melodic.”

Tony leaned into the touch, basking in the praise. Yes, he was amazing. Utterly amazing. It was time the human realized it.

“I have to reward this,” the human said with a smile. 

Tony’s claws tightened over the glass wall and he leaned forward. Fucking finally. This was what he deserved. Rewards just for being awesome. Not having to do dumb tasks the human set for him.

The human tossed the first fish into the tank and Tony leapt up, grabbing it in his mouth and swallowing it down whole.

“Excellent,” the human said. He tossed another fish, slightly higher than the first one. 

Tony caught that one too and downed it in a happy gulp.

The human laughed delightedly and threw fish after fish, peppered with words of praise for Tony’s remarkable catches.

Tony only had eyes for the fish, but the words were nice. 

All too soon, the flow of fish stopped.

Tony swam back up to the glass and reached over the edge as far as he could. He could still see fish in the bucket so why wasn’t the human throwing the rest of them?

“That’s it for now,” the human said, holding the bucket back a little.

Tony whined low in his throat and unhappily clawed at the air. He was still hungry and the fish were right there, oh so close. Hadn’t the human said he was going to reward this beautiful voice? He deserved that entire bucket of fish and more.

“I might be willing to give you a little more if you sing for me again.”

Tony bared his teeth. His singing was just an outpouring of happiness, not something the human could demand from him.

“Pet,” the human said warningly. “If you try and attack me, there will be no more treats.”

Tony hissed and slapped the water with his tail. The human had better fish than what was available in the tank. But goddamn, was it ever a pain to get the good fish out of him. Was it really too much to ask that the human dump all the delicious fish into the tank so Tony could eat them whenever he wanted?

“Easy, my pet,” the human said in a low voice. He reached out a hand and gently patted Tony’s head.

Tony pulled back with a growl and dove back into the water. He sulked on the bottom of the tank for the rest of the day, mourning those delicious fish that the human was keeping from him.


	3. Chapter 3

Tony spent the next two day deep underwater, chasing fish around the tank and exploring every nook and cranny of the big rock. There were so many smaller cave openings in the side, some just big enough for Tony to squeeze inside and some that were little more than a glorified tunnel to the other side of the rock. Nevertheless, Tony thoroughly explored every last one of them in the hopes that he’d find something exciting inside. Well, it seemed like the big cave at the bottom was the only one that was any interesting. But hey, at least he had found a few places he could hide in and ambush the fish. Terrifying the fish was always hilarious.

By the third day, he was tired of the cold water and the lure of the light was an irresistible siren’s call. 

Without bothering to check if the human was around or not, Tony hauled himself out of the water and fell asleep on the warm rock.

All too soon, he woke to the unpleasant sensation of his scales drying out.

He huffed in annoyance. The warmth still felt amazing, even though his scales felt dry and itchy. If only there was a way to stay damp and warm at the same time. Hmmn.

Tony rolled towards the edge of the rock and dipped his tail fluke in the water. He sighed in contentment as the cool water eased the ache in his scales. Oh, this was already a great idea.

He curled his tail fluke inwards, gathered up a large scoop of water and flicked his tail up, showering the water over his body. Ah, that was it. That felt amazing.

Tony settled onto his stomach, letting his tail dangle into the water and shut his eyes again. Time to finish the nap his dry scales had so rudely interrupted.

“What a clever creature you are.”

Tony opened one eye and gave the human an unimpressed look. He was feeling far too relaxed and sleepy to get worked up over his reappearance, but if the human kept him from his nap, that would quickly change.

“I have a nice, juicy fish for you,” the human said.

Oh, did he really? What a surprise.

Tony sighed and squeezed his eyes shut. The human was always bringing fish in exchange for making him do something annoying.

“Don’t be cross with me, pet. I’ve missed your beauty these past two days and I want to show my appreciation. Catch.” He tossed a medium-sized trout over the glass wall.

Tony quickly calculated the trajectory of the fish and realized he wouldn’t even have to get up to catch it. He stuck one hand out, speared the fish with his claws, and brought it to his mouth for a bite. The fish was twitching, making it difficult to eat so Tony bashed its head in on the rock and continued to devour his treat.

“That’s it,” the man said soothingly. “You’ve been hungry, haven’t you?”

Tony shrugged indifferently. Sure, the tropical fish weren’t the tastiest. They were small and tough and had less flavor than the fish the human brought. But if he got hungry enough, they were fine.

“If you’re willing to cooperate with me, I have another fish for you,” the human said. He bent down to mess around with something in a bucket and when he straightened up, he was holding a large bass in both hands.

Tony sat up a little straighter and stared at the fish. It was enough to keep him full for the rest of the day, maybe even two or three days.

He wanted it. He wanted it so badly.

“And all you have to do is touch that,” the human said, pointing upwards.

Tony hissed, remembering the shock of the ball exploding in his face.

“No, no,” the human said quickly. “No more balls. We’ve learned from that mistake. Trust me, pet. I never meant for that to happen.”

Tony sighed and glanced up. True to his word, the human had replaced the ball’s remains with a metal bar. What the hell was so exciting about a metal bar? Why did the human want him to touch it so badly?

“It’s the same height as the ball,” the human said calmly. “And I know you touched that just fine.”

Tony glared at the metal bar. He was going to show the human. He was going to do more than touch it.

With a thrust of his powerful tail, Tony cleared the water high enough to put both hands on the bar and actually grab it. But then he came to the uncomfortable realization that he was now dangling over the water. And his grip was slipping.

Oh, he did not think that through.

“Are you alright, my pet?” the human asked anxiously. “Don’t worry. I’ll grab a ladder and help-”

Tony hissed at him. He didn’t the human’s help, thank you very much. He needed-wow, what a view. Tony could see the human’s whole habitat, all the way down to the shiny beige ground. He was slightly jealous of how much more amazing the human’s cave was to his. There were branching corridors, smooth arches, and brilliant light everywhere he looked. He could have stayed there the rest of the day just looking at all the marvels of the human’s cave system, but his hands were getting tired and the human’s panicky voice was grating on his nerves.

He let go of the bar.

When Tony hit the water, he slapped his tail down with more force than necessary, feeling vindictive glee as water sprayed over the walls of the tank, splashing into the human’s startled face.

Tony laughed and laughed as the human continued to stand there in open-mouthed shock, dripping water onto the floor.

When the human recovered his senses, he crossed his arms over his chest and glared. “Not funny, pet. This is a good suit.”

Tony laughed even harder, doubled over the wall until he was unable to make any sound other than a high whistling noise.

The human’s glare slowly faded into a rueful smile. “I suppose I deserved that, didn’t I?”

Tony bobbed his head vigorously. Oh boy, did he ever.

The human sighed and started wringing out his damp clothing. “You’re a feisty one, for sure. A spitfire personality to go with those fiery scales of yours. It’s fitting, I suppose.”

Tony had been bracing himself on the edge of the wall to watch and cackle at the human’s continued misfortune. Abruptly, his grip gave out. With a yelp of surprise, he tumbled back into the water.

The human chuckled. “Serves you right, my brat.”

Before Tony could decide to be offended, the human held out a hand. “It’s been a hard day for both of us, yes? So why don't we have a truce for the day.”

Tony eyed the human’s outstretched hand warily for a moment, then reluctantly ducked his head and allowed the human to stroke his hair.

It felt surprisingly nice. Almost as gratifying as the sensation of water against itchy scales. Tony scrabbled to keep himself above water as the human’s touch made all his muscles go lax.

The human laughed softly as his hands moved down to Tony’s ear, kneading the cartilage between his fingers all the way up to the point of his ear and then back down the other side.

Tony sighed in contentment. He could feel another nap coming on.

“See? It’s not so bad to behave, is it? I’ll take good care of you, my pet.”

As awesome as the petting was, Tony had the sudden impulse to nip at the man’s fingers. But no, what he really wanted to do was sink his teeth into a nice fish. 

Fish. The human had promise him a fish.

Tony sank below the surface and then popped back up, rolling onto his back and rubbing a hand over his stomach.

The human chuckled. “Yes, of course. I didn’t forget your fish.” He heaved the fish over the wall of the tank.

The fish was a lot bigger than Tony was used to and it was a struggle to get a hold on it. But Tony dug in with his claws and wrestled with the fish until he had shredded most of its scales off and the fish was only struggling feebly. Then Tony bit down on the fish’ tail and dragged it up onto his sunny rock.

Oh yes, this was the life. A nice, plump, juicy fish and a nice warm spot to laze about and enjoy the food at his leisure. Tony felt another song bubbling up in the back of his throat, a smooth, rolling melody that coiled through his body like another layer of contentment.

When it was over, the human applauded enthusiastically. “My pet, your voice could put an opera singer to shame.”

Tony preened. He was quite happy to be admired. 

“I hope to see you again tomorrow,” the human said. “You don’t know how much your presence livens up my dreary day.”

Tony didn’t know, but he could definitely guess. The human’s world wasn’t nearly as bright as Tony’s. He felt slightly sorry for the man. He had a spacious cave system, but everything in the man’s cave was as dull as sand. There was no vivid green seaweed and no bright tropical fish to give the place some atmosphere. Even the human’s coloring was dull. How sad to have beige skin from head to toe.

Now that Tony thought about it a little more, the human’s tasks seemed less like arbitrary nuisances. The human admired Tony’s beautiful scales. Getting him to jump out of the water gave him a better look at the scales. Perhaps it wouldn’t be such a hardship to put up with the human’s whims occasionally. After all, the man was suffering from a lack of beauty in his life. Tony’s magnificence would be just the thing to ease his pain.


	4. Chapter 4

Over the next week, Tony tried to be nicer to the human. He made sure to put in an appearance at the sunny rock at least once a day and when the human called for him, he swam up to the side of the tank and let himself be petted.

Being petted was surprisingly enjoyable. The human had small hands and his claws were nonexistent, but that meant he was great at gentle touches. Something about the way the human lightly ran his fingers through his hair or stroked under his chin made him feel relaxed and content.

Most of the time, the human was so pleased with himself at getting Tony nice and sleepy that he left him alone after that to curl up on the sunny rock and take a nap. But there were a few times the human lingered, waiting for him to wake up so he could make him touch the stupid bar again.

Tony decided to turn the stupid task into a game. He jumped high enough to touch the bar and always made sure to land with enough of a splash to get the human wet. He had stopped wearing good suits to see Tony so he just laughed as he shook water out of his hair.

The human had also decided to bring another beach ball for Tony to play with. Tony was dubious at first, but the human convinced him that as long as he didn’t touch it with his claws, it wouldn’t pop. They spent almost an hour tossing the ball back and forth. The human would throw the ball over the glass wall and Tony would hit it back with his tail. It was a fun game and the human always rewarded him afterwards with a plump trout or salmon so Tony got excited whenever he saw the human show up with the ball.

But then the human suddenly stopped showing up so often. Tony was miffed the first few times he surfaced and the human wasn’t there. He had been in the mood to play and it annoyed him that the human was off in his cave somewhere doing other things when they could be having fun together. Tony couldn’t think of anything that could be more important than him, but whatever it was, it was keeping the human for most of the day. Tony was lucky to see him once early in the morning and once late at night.

And then one day the human didn’t show up at all. Tony stayed out of the water for most of the day, hoping the human was just late for his morning visit. But he was forced to admit defeat when his stomach started growling. It was the first time in weeks that Tony had actually had to eat one of the tropical fish. He had gotten used to the bigger fish that the human fed him.

The human didn’t show up the next day either and Tony started to get anxious. He had thought he and the human were getting along a lot better. The splashes were supposed to be playful. Had the human somehow viewed it as an attack and decided he didn’t deserve treats anymore? Tony was distraught just thinking about it.

It was three days before Tony saw the human again and he immediately swam to the side of the tank with a delighted chirp.

“Missed me, have you?” the human said with a chuckle.

Tony growled and shoved his head into the human’s hands for a petting.

“I’m so sorry, my pet,” the human said soothingly. “But your master’s been hard at work so he can afford all those delicious fish you crave.”

Master, huh? Tony’s eyes narrowed. He wouldn’t exactly call the human his master. Sure, he built the tank Tony was living in and provided the fish….

Well, maybe. If his tank was inside the human’s cave, technically the human owned him. But Tony didn’t like giving the man that much authority. He was just so plain and uninteresting. And kind of wimpy looking, if Tony was really being honest. He didn’t even have claws to defend himself. But somehow, this pathetic human had gotten himself a nice, spacious cave and put Tony in it.So he had to be doing something right.

“You’re lucky, my pet. You don’t have to deal with lazy employees, long business trips, and tedious negotiations. Ah, but it’s all worth it for a look at these beautiful scales.” The human chucked Tony under the chin.

Tony leaned halfway out of the water to pluck at the human’s fancy suit. Since he was so dressed up, it sadly looked like Tony wasn’t going to get any playtime today.

“Later, my pet,” the human assured him, taking a step back and smoothing down the front of his suit.

Tony huffed. Later, he said. What the hell did that mean? Later today? Later as in later in the week? They had had a nice routine for just about two weeks now and the human had to spoil it all by leaving for several days. He didn’t know how he could trust him now. At any moment, he might decide he was going to disappear again and then Tony would be left wondering when he’d see him again.

“As fond of you as I am, there will be times I have to go away for business,” the human said, carefully rubbing a thumb over Tony’s cheekbone. “But had I known my absence would cause you this much distress, I would have arranged for some of my scientists to come up and keep you company. They probably would have enjoyed the opportunity to see their work in action.”

Tony turned his head to the side. No, whatever. It was fine. The human could come and go as he liked. But really, was it too much to ask for that he had some warning before he left for day on end? Tony didn’t do that to him unless he was mad at him. So if the human really wanted to be his master, he should know how to be more responsible.

“Don’t be cross with me, my pet. Look, I’ve brought you some presents.” The human held up a long metal rod.

Tony’s eyes narrowed. Really? Another fucking metal bar? Why the hell was he supposed to be excited about that? The only good thing about playing with the stupid metal bar was that he got to splash the human afterward.

“And for a little variety, I picked up a hoop.”

Tony perked up a little as the human held up a large plastic circle. Okay, so that was at least more exciting than the bar, but he still didn’t know exactly what the human wanted him to do with it.

“Let me change into something a little more casual and then we’ll get started,” the human said. He leaned forward to hold the circle over the tank. “I’ll let you familiarize yourself with your new toy while I change.”

Tony curled his claws around the hoop and pulled it into the tank. It was a lot lighter than he expected, but awkward to hold on to because it was so big. After a few moments of turning it around and examining it from all angles, Tony decided it was boring and gray and he couldn’t be bothered to hold it any longer.

To his delight, once he let go of the hoop, it stayed at the top of the water instead of sinking as he expected. He nudged it with his tail and still, it kept floating.

The human showed up a few minutes later in a baggy t-shirt and smiled as Tony lifted the hoop part way out of the water with his tail. “Already having fun with your new toy, I see.”

Tony bobbed his head. This was so much better than the metal bar.

“Put it down for a moment, my pet. I want to show you something.”

Reluctantly, Tony let go of the hoop and watched it float off in the water. If the human interrupted his play time with more metal bar nonsense, he was going to be very disappointed.

“Now, my pet,” the man said. “Since the hoop will stay floating on the surface of the water, I think we should see if you can come up through the middle of the circle.”

Well, that sounded ridiculously easy. Hardly a game at all. Tony sank beneath the water and resurfaced inside the hoop.

The human smiled indulgently. “Well, that’s one way to do it. But I think you can handle something a little more challenging. Let’s try jumping up through the hoop this time.”

Tony huffed, but he dove back under the water. Jumping up through the hoop required a lot more distance than merely surfacing through it so Tony made sure to swim down a few feet. Looking back up at the hoop made him realize it would actually be difficult to leap up through the circle. If he disturbed the water below the surface preparing for the jump, the hoop would float away. But he had to do some fairly strong swimming to build up enough momentum to clear the water.

No matter, he liked a challenge.

Tony swished his tail slowly back and forth as he regarded the hoop. He could do it. He would just have to be quick. Not give the hoop time to float away.

With a few powerful thrusts of his tail, Tony cleared the water, tucking his arms close to his side as he passed through the hoop. He didn’t get much height in his jump, but he still felt pleased with himself as he landed back into the water.

The human was all praises when Tony popped back up. “Excellent form, my pet. Your athleticism surpasses all my expectations.”

Tony preened. Yeah, he had mastered the human’s game on the first try. It had been a fun challenge, to be fair, but still no match for his skills.

The human tossed Tony anchovy after anchovy, smiling as Tony caught all of them in his mouth effortlessly. “You really are incredible, my pet. You learn so quickly. I’m sure in no time at all I can have you perform an entire routine for me.”

Tony swallowed the last anchovy and cocked his head to one side. Routine? What the hell was the human talking about?

“Some other time,” the human assured him. “For now, I want to spend some time reacquainting myself with my pet.” He beckoned Tony to come closer.

Reluctantly, Tony swam over to the glass wall.

The human scratched Tony’s scalp with gentle motions. “I’ve missed you, my pet. You’re such a welcome sight after a long day of work.”

Tony’s eyes went half-lidded under the human’s touch. He had missed the pettings too. And the tasty fish. But that was all going to be remedied now that the human was back. Hopefully since the man had abandoned him for two days, he was going to spoil Tony extra to make up for what he missed.

“Your master has some more work to do, but I’ll be back tonight, my pet,” the human promised. “I’ve bought you a nice, plump salmon for dinner.”

Tony was a little disappointed for the petting to stop, but he was definitely looking forward to the salmon. He liked all the fish the human gave him, even the tiny little anchovies that were barely a bite, but he liked salmon the best.

The human gave him one last pat on the head before he left to do something about writing a report. It sounded boring. But what did Tony care? As long as the human showed up to feed him every day, it didn’t matter what the man did on his own.

So Tony put the human out of his mind and went about enjoying the rest of his day. The human had left the hoop floating in the water and Tony took turns surfacing up through the hoop and jumping into it. And when he got tired out from all the jumping, he floated lazily on his back and lifted the hoop overhead with his tail. It was so nice to have a toy to play with. It definitely helped soothe the feelings of abandonment.

By late afternoon, Tony was worn out from all the playtime and he sprawled out on the rock for a nap. He knew that the human would be coming by soon with his delicious salmon so it was the perfect time to be at the surface.

The human returned just as the sunlight was starting to dim and Tony eagerly jumped off the rock and swam over to greet him. Disappointingly, the human didn’t have the salmon in his hands, ready to give to Tony, which meant he’d have to do some nonsense to earn it. After all the human had put him through, Tony didn’t think he needed to earn his food, but the human was annoyingly persistent about making him do tricks.

“I though we would do something a little different tonight,” the human said. “I know how good you are at touching the bar. You can do it effortlessly every single time. But I think you can do better than that. I think you can jump over the bar.”

Tony snorted. The human was utterly insane. There was no way he could jump that high.

“We’ll start a little smaller,” the human said. He adjusted some mechanism on his side and the bar lowered by a few inches. “But by the end of the week, I expect we’ll be able to work our way up to the original position.”

Tony didn’t share the human’s confidence.

He twitched his tail and glanced from the bar over to the human.

“Yes, my pet,” the human said encouragingly. “I know you can do it. And there’s a nice, juicy salmon waiting for you if you can make the jump.”

Well, that was comforting at least. Just one jump and then salmon. If the human tried to make him do a higher jump after that, Tony would be able to ignore him and eat his fish.

Satisfied with that thought, Tony laid back and just stared at the bar for a moment. It was still a pretty high jump, even though the human had lowered it a bit. Being able to reach up and touch the bar was one thing, but getting his whole body up and over the bar was another thing entirely. He wasn’t sure he could do it. And if he fucked up, he would hit the bar and possibly hurt himself.

But the human liked looking at him and he wouldn’t make him do anything he thought would damage his perfect body. There was still the possibility that the human had vastly overestimated Tony’s abilities, but Tony didn’t want to think about that. He wanted to keep believing everything he did was beyond the human’s expectations so he’d keep showering him with fish for being so awesome.

Tony took his time figuring out the jump. He dove underwater aways, popped back up to the surface and assessed a few times before he felt confident enough to make the jump.

His heart was hammering as he rocketed towards the surface, still anxiously turning over the trajectory of the jump in his head. But then he was soaring out of the water and over the bar and he had never felt more exhilarated in his life. Hell yes, he was amazing.

He was grinning from ear to ear as he bobbed to the surface and he looked eagerly at the human for confirmation.

“Incredible,” the human said. He hoisted the salmon into the tank.

Tony sank his teeth into the fish, feeling song bubbling up in the back of his throat. 

What a perfect end to the day.


	5. Chapter 5

In the end, it took Tony less than a week to work his way back up to the high bar. The human had wanted to keep the bar in its first position for a day or two, so Tony could “get used to it” but that was utterly ridiculous. He already knew he could make the jump, so why bother doing the same thing over and over again?

It took a little work to convince the human that he wanted the bar raised. The human kept thinking he was being obstinate and just refusing to jump. It really was a pity that the man didn’t understand that Tony was calling him an idiot. Eventually, Tony had to do the jump at the lowest height and make it blindingly obvious that he was jumping way over it before the human finally started raising it, inch by agonizing inch.

In four days, Tony had mastered the jump at the highest level and it was no longer any fun. There was no challenge in doing something he already knew he could do. He was still cooperating when the human asked him to jump because he wanted the fish, but it was way too easy and things that were easy were boring. Even the human’s praise after each jump failed to help. 

Yeah, sure, he was amazingly athletic. But he had been amazingly athletic the day before and the day before that. Why did the human keep acting like Tony had done something astonishing when he had already seen the same trick?

“I’m so pleased with your willingness to learn new things, my pet,” the human said as he chucked Tony under the chin. “There is so much more I can teach you. Exciting new tricks and games.”

Tony eagerly shoved his face into the human’s hands. He desperately wanted a new game to play.

The human chuckled. “Very well, my pet. I’m going to be putting you through your paces then. So I’m going to have some of my scientist friends take a look at you to make sure you’re healthy.”

Tony cocked his head to one side. He wasn’t entirely sure what that meant. Was the human bringing other humans in to watch his jumps and decide whether he was athletic enough? Tony would be down for that. He had more than proved his awesomeness to the man already. It might be fun showing off his jumping ability to an audience of appreciative humans. Maybe if he was lucky they would all bring fish to reward him.

The human smiled brightly at Tony and stepped away to fiddle with something on the walls of his cave “I need Kevin, Donovan, and Randall to come up here right away please,” he said into the wall. 

Something went ding in the reaches of the human’s cave and Tony raised himself up to try and peer into the other rooms.

“They’ll be here shortly, my pet,” the human said cheerfully. “I want you to be nice and friendly to my men and cooperate with them so this will be easy on everybody.”

Tony frowned. Cooperate? Was his master letting other humans boss him around too? That was not going to be pleasant. He reluctantly took orders from his human because of the rewards and because sometimes the human had good ideas for fun games. But he really didn’t want three other humans giving him tasks to do. He was perfectly willing to show off his moves, but he wanted to show off what he wanted to show off.

There was an horrible clacking noise and someone swearing, then three humans emerged from around the corner, pushing an enormous metal rectangle almost the size of the shortest human.

Tony frowned. What the hell was he supposed to do with that? He couldn’t jump over something that big. And if they tried to put it in the tank it would sink right down to the bottom.

And then the skinniest human opened the big metal rectangle and started taking stuff out of it.

Tony leaned forward in fascination. The thing was so huge there had to be countless toys stuffed inside it. Balls, hoops, metal bars. Hell, there might even be a fish or two.

But then the skinny human and his smaller companion started pulling out a long, heavy length of netting.

There was nothing fun about a net. He was already confined to a glass tank. Put a net in the water and it’d restrict his swimming even more. And he was likely to get tangled up in it.

The third human laid out a cloth on top of the metal rectangle and then set a series of small, pointy objects on top of it. And then came a number of vials and bottles.

Tony slumped down a little into the tank. The humans had all that storage space and they chose to bring the most useless, unexciting items with them. Where were the balls and hoops?

“Just in case he gets feisty,” the skinny human muttered, pulling out a long pole with a thin metal string looped around the end.

Oh hell no. There was no way they were putting that thing around him.

Tony snarled, splashed a curtain of water over the men, and retreated to the safety of his rock.

“You fools,” the master said. “Why would you bring that thing in here?” He gestured angrily in the pole’s direction.

“It’s not a torture device,” said the shortest human. “Dog catchers use these poles as a humane way of catching and transporting animals all the time.”

“He’s not a dog,” the master said angrily. “He’s a beautiful, brilliant creature and he deserves to be treated with more respect than that.”

“Sorry, boss,” the skinny man said quietly. He stowed the pole back inside the 

The master heaved a sigh. “Come here, pet,” he said soothingly. “Ignore these idiots. I won’t let them hurt you.”

Tony lashed his tail agitatedly and stayed where he was in the middle of the tank, his eyes darting between the three men. Logically, he knew they couldn’t sneak up on him. They were humans and humans were land creatures. But he didn’t feel comfortable taking his eyes off them for a second.

“Come along, my pet,” the human coaxed. “We just need to take you down to the lab and get you looked over. It’ll be safe, quick, and painless. You’ll be back playing with your hoop in no time. Master promises.”

Warily, Tony swam a little closer. He didn’t like seeing the humans start flattening the net over the edge of the tank, but the pole was gone at least, and he did mostly trust his master.  
“Into the net, my pet,” the human said.

Tony grumbled as the humans fed the net into his tank. This was going to be deeply unpleasant. 

Why did they want him to get in the net anyway? He was just going to get all tangled up in it and they were never going to see his amazing athleticism and he was never going to get any reward fish. He was going to starve to death at this rate, with a beautiful fish just sadly out of reach.

Tony jerked in alarm as the humans began lifting the net with him inside it. Wait, no. Where were they taking him? Why were they taking him out of the water?

He started thrashing to try and get away, but the net was wrapped around him securely.

“We might need to sedate him,” the skinny human said urgently. “We don’t want him hurting himself.”

“He’ll be fine if you three just get him into the lab quickly. Come on, I pay you three to be efficient.”

Tony whined as he was lowered onto the metal rectangle and wheeled further into the human’s cave. He took back everything idle curiosity about the human’s life. He didn’t want to see the rest of the human’s cave. He just wanted to be back in the water. 

Tony’s anxiety only skyrocketed as the men pushed him into a small alcove that suddenly sealed itself off. He didn’t want to die like this, oh god. How was it going to end? Suffocation, starvation? His scales all drying up and peeling off? Oh no, and now the walls were shaking. They were gong to keep closing in on him and crush him to death. That was it. That was how it was going to end.

“His heart rate’s going up,” said the short man. “We really need to sedate him. The trip has to be traumatic for him, especially considering his history.”

“He doesn’t have a history,” the master insisted.

There was a faint ding and the cave unsealed itself with a whoosh. Tony exhaled in relief as he looked out and saw the bottom of the glass tank.

Wait, where the hell was he? The human’s cave extended far deeper than he had thought.

The master chuckled as Tony tilted his head back to stare up at the ceiling. “Do you remember this place, my pet? This is where you were born.”

No, Tony certainly didn’t. He was pretty sure he would remember the horrifying lack of water and the weird colored vials along the walls.

The three scientists lifted Tony off the metal rectangle under the watchful eyes of his master and lowered him into a shallow pool of water. 

Tony sighed happily as the cool water soothed his scales. He was still annoyingly bound in the net and the water wasn’t deep enough for anything more than a few splashes, but he felt much better to finally be back in the water.

“There we go, my pet,” the master said. “You just relax now and let my men look you over.”

Tony grumbled as the men started poking and prodding at him with their sharp little tools. He would have bitten them for daring to touch his beautiful scales, but binding him in the ropes had been a clever ploy on their part. He couldn’t do much more than thrash around and growl at them.

“Heart rate still slightly elevated,” said the skinny man as he dabbed at Tony’s chest. “But no longer at dangerous levels. Breathing seems to have normalized, too.”

Tony snarled as the short human jabbed his arm with a particularly sharp bit.

“Everything seems fine, but we’ll have a look at the blood work tonight,” the short man said, maneuvering out of the way of Tony’s angry thrashing.

God damn the humans. They were quick and smart and they would most likely escape without a single bite mark after all the indignity they put Tony through. The world was so unfair.

“Did you want us to take a semen sample or…?” the third human looked questioningly at the master.

Tony growled low in his throat and waved his tail as menacingly as possible in the net. He was definitely biting them if they tried to touch his dick.

“Not necessary,” the human said. “He has no mate at the moment.” He smiled fondly at Tony. “That may change someday, of course, but there’s no use traumatizing him for no reason.”

The human marked something off on his clipboard. “We just need to check his temperature. Possibly do a waste analysis and-”

“Not this time,” the master interjected. “He’s suffered enough for his first visit.”

The human shrugged and stowed his clipboard. “Then he’s good to go. We’ll call with the results of the test tomorrow.”

“There we are, my pet,” the master said with a bright smile. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

Tony huffed. It hadn’t been a fun experience, to be sure. But seeing as the scientists had wanted to make it an even more humiliating check-up, he supposed he should be grateful he escaped with just a few pokes. 

There had better be plenty of fish after this.

The scientists lifted Tony back out of the water and onto the metal. This time, Tony didn’t struggle as much. He would suffer the indignity of being lifted in the net like a flopping fish if it got him back to his tank sooner.

As soon as he was lowered back into the water, Tony started squirming eagerly, impatient to free himself from the net.

The human laughed. “Wait, my pet. Let’s get you free.”

Tony didn’t want to wait, but he stilled just long enough for the humans to untangle him from the last bit of the net and then he cavorted eagerly through the water, luxuriating in the cool, refreshing feel on his scales and the space to swim and play. It had been awful confined in that tiny little pool.

The master smiled. “Well, my pet. You seem to have a clean bill of health. That means exciting things are in store for you the next week. I can’t wait to see what you’re truly capable of.”

Tony couldn’t wait to see either.


	6. Chapter 6

Tony had been excited at first to see what new games the human had for him to play. The horrible exam had proved that he was strong and healthy so he was really looking forward to some rigorous challenges.

But the human started off with some weirdly boring stuff. He had him playing with the hoop in all sorts of poses. Lifting the hoop with his tail, sliding the hoop down his body, transferring the hoop between his tail and his claws. Sure, it was a little challenging to balance the hoop just so on his tail so it didn’t fall off, but Tony didn’t like these sorts of challenges. He didn’t have a lot of patience for delicate movements.

But the human had a seemingly endless supply of patience. He could sit with Tony for over an hour, making him do a pose over and over again until Tony worked out just how to hold his body so the hoop stayed put.

It was a waste of time, Tony thought. Well, other than the one trick the human came up with where Tony tossed the hoop high in the air with his tail and caught it in his claws. That had been fun, even if Tony had mastered it all too quickly. But the human didn’t actually listen to any of Tony’s opinions. And as long as he got fish at the end of the day, Tony supposed he shouldn’t complain too much.

After three weeks of hoop-related nonsense, the human finally moved on to some more exciting games. Tony had originally hated the jumping up and touching the bar game, but it was vastly preferable to balancing the hoop. And it was a lot more challenging now that the man wanted him to touch it with his tail. That meant he had to jump up and do a flip in midair below the bar. 

Figuring out how to do the flip was a lot harder than Tony had first thought. The first few jumps weren’t high enough. The next couple jumps were too high. The first time Tony actually reached the right height to touch the bar, he had hit it with his tail a lot harder than he meant to and injured himself.

The human promptly freaked out and had his scientists drag him back down to the lab to get a look at his injury.

Tony hissed and tried to bite the men as they pressed down on his scales and manipulated his tail in different positions.

“it’s just bruised, boss,” one of the men said finally.

“Oh, my pet,” the human said. “I’m so thankful you’re not seriously injured. I never imagined our games could be so dangerous.”

Tony rolled his eyes. It was just a bruise. He was sure he had handled worse injuries in his life, although he couldn’t remember any at the moment.

“I don’t know how you can ever forgive me,” the human lamented. “You’ve done only as I asked and I’ve been endangering you with my tasks. How can you ever trust me again?”

Oh, for the love of god. The human was even dumber than Tony had thought. Tony had wanted the challenge. He knew the jumps were potentially dangerous and he had willingly done them anyway. Just knowing that he might get hurt made everything more exciting.

If Tony had wanted safety, he would have stayed firmly underwater, just sleeping in his cave and chasing fish. But as soon as he started investigating the glass wall, he had said to hell with safety. Safety was boring. And Tony was not a boring merman. 

Tony yanked his tail away from the scientist with a huff. He didn’t like to be injured, of course. It just meant he’d have to be more careful next time. Remembering the pain would only sharpen his focus to get it right.

But now came the difficult part of convincing the human that he was fine and absolutely wanted to keep practicing his jump. It was nice that the human was so concerned for his health and safety and wanted to take good care of him, but the panicking was taking that concern way overboard. Tony would hate to see how the human reacted if he was actually seriously injured. 

Finally, finally, the human gave the orders for his men to take Tony back to the tank after rubbing some sort of ointment on his tail.

Tony was thrilled to be back in the water. He still felt a little sore, but he luxuriated in the wide space to swim. After frisking around for a few minutes, he began practicing his jumps again, starting small.

“No, my pet,” the human said instantly. “You’re hurt.”

Tony snapped at him. Of course he was hurt. He didn’t need the human to tell him that. He also didn’t need the human to tell him what he was or wasn’t capable of because of his injury. The human needed to go away and stop fussing over him. 

“Pet,” the human pleaded. “You need to take it easy for a little while. Just until you heal.”

It was just a bruise. A fucking bruise. What the hell was he supposed to do, not use his tail for the rest of the day? Fuck that. He couldn’t do anything without it.

With a snarl, Tony hauled himself up on his sunning rock and bared his teeth at the human.

“That’s it,” the human said. “Good boy. Just stay there for a little while. I’ll get you a nice tasty fish.”

Tony rolled his eyes. Okay, fine. He’d accept that compromise. A quick bask in the sun and a delicious fish and then he was going back into the water, whether the human wanted him to or not. And he was going to keep practicing his jumps. He wanted to get it right, damn it.

When Tony woke up from his nap half an hour later, he was in a better mood. It probably helped that the human was nowhere to be seen. He flexed his tail, testing the soreness and then dove back into the water.

The metal bar dangled overhead, taunting him. He was so close to mastering the trick, he could almost taste it. Just a slightly shorter jump, maybe angle his tail a little differently or put less force into tapping the metal bar and he would have it nailed.

The human returned as Tony was contemplating the jump. “I can’t talk you out of this, can I?” he asked sadly.

Nope, Tony chirped cheerfully. He tipped his head to one side, giving the bar another appraising look. Maybe a backflip. That might give him a little more control coming out of the flip.

He heard the human’s anxious intake of breath as he dove back under, but he ignored it. It was the human’s fault he had gotten him into jumping in the first place. He was just going to have to deal with the consequences.

Tony decided to do both a regular flip and a backflip, just to be sure. As he had thought, the backflip seemed to work out a little better, but he successfully hit the bar with both attempts, carefully angling his tail so just his golden tail flukes actually touched the bar.

“You did it,” the human said, a note of wonder in his voice. “And you’ve even introduced a variation. Oh, my pet, you’re so clever.”

Tony preened and magnanimously allowed the human to pet him. At least the human was as effusive with his praise as his concern. Now all he needed was a big, juicy fish and it would be a perfect reward.

“You’re learning so fast, my pet,” the human murmured as he rubbed the tip of Tony’s ear. Much faster than I anticipated. I might run out of tricks to teach you pretty soon.”

Tony was aghast. Learning the human’s tricks was the best part of the day. He was going to be so bored without any games to play.

The human smoothed down Tony’s hair. “But soon we’ll be able to put them together in a nice routine.”

Tony still had no idea what the hell the human was talking about. But putting all the tricks together? It sounded like it was going to be one big mega trick. Tony was down for that. It would probably take a long time to master, but all the better. Tony didn’t want to go back to life where chasing fish was his only form of excitement.

Hopefully the human still had a few more tricks to teach him at least. Just to make the mega trick even more mega. 

“Rest up and let your tail heal,” the human advised. “Tomorrow we’ll start working on another trick.”

Um, no. Tony wasn’t going to sleep the day away because of a bruise. He might take another nap later, but in the meantime, he was going to pester some fish, maybe take a couple laps around the tank. And then when he was actually tired, he’d rest.

He dove back under the water and circled down to his cave in a slow, lazy spiral. The fish scattered out of his way but Tony didn’t bother chasing them. He skimmed along the bottom of the tank, right along the glass wall and eventually settled into a patch of seaweed and sand. He idly wound his tail through the seaweed, watching the stalks bend and sway as he touched them.

God, he had to be bored if poking seaweed seemed like the thing to do.

He didn’t really feel like chasing the fish. There was no real reason to catch them since they didn’t taste very good. But surely chasing fish had to be better than just hitting seaweed with his tail, right?

Tony rolled over with a heavy groan. He just didn’t feel like doing anything at the moment. Probably a sign that he did need a little rest. But he was stubborn and he so hated for the human to be right.

Unhappily, Tony curled up in his cave and settled in for a long sleep.

By the next morning, Tony was feeling a lot better. His tail still felt a little stiff and sore, but the pain wasn’t so bad. Experimentally, he swam almost up to the surface and dove back down to skim the bottom of the tank.

Yes, he felt a lot better now.

He popped back up to the surface and hauled himself up on his sunning rock to wait for the human.

The human took his sweet time showing up and Tony was tempted to splash water in his face when he finally showed up, but it probably wouldn’t be worth the pain in the tail. But he was definitely going to glare at him, maybe bare his teeth a little. Something to express his displeasure. Because he was bored and hungry and so damn tired of waiting.

Now that he thought about it, it was a little alarming how much he had to rely on the human. He didn’t even like the man, but he’d be bored out of his mind without him. If the human ever stopped showing up, Tony didn’t know what he’d do. He’d have to eat the bland-tasting fish, of course. There was no helping that. It wasn’t Tony’s fault the human had all the tastiest fish.

There was also no helping the fact that the human had access to so many fun toys, but Tony needed to come up with some fun things to do on his own. He had pretty much explored the entire tank already, but surely there had to be something exciting to do somewhere.

Tony quickly forgot about his plans as the human walked in with an armful of random objects. There was a small red ball, some sort of yellow plastic thing, rope, and a few other things Tony couldn’t quite make out.

“Good morning, my pet,” the human said cheerfully. “I hope your tail is feeling better.”

Tony quickly swam up to the edge of the glass and eagerly reached out with his claws. He was so excited for new toys.

The human affectionately stroked Tony’s head. “You’re happy to see me, aren’t you?”

Tony bobbed his head, shoving his face further into the human’s touch.

Well, it really wasn’t his fault that the human had so many great toys.


	7. Chapter 7

Tony loved the new toys. The little red ball was really bouncy and he spent several hours bouncing it off the top of his head and hitting it with his tail. The yellow plastic thing was part of a set of three things that bobbed on the surface of the water. Each day, the human arranged them in different spots in the tank and directed Tony to swim between them in different patterns. 

But the rope was probably Tony’s favorite new toy. It was a simple thing, but the human had so many uses for it. Tony could jump over it or touch it with his tail, just like the metal bar with less risk of injury. But then the human started working him up to multiple jumps. Tony delighted in jumping back and forth over the whole span of the rope. One day, he was sure he’d have the energy to do all nine jumps down and then nine back up. But at the moment, just making it all the way down one end filled Tony with the pleasant exhaustion of accomplishment.

“I think we finally have enough tricks down to start putting them together,” the human said with a gleeful expression as Tony surfaced to lazily float on his back after the latest round of jumping over the rope.

Tony whined and squeezed his eyes shut. He was too tired to do anything except bask on his rock for at least the next hour, maybe even the next two hours. As awesome as he was, doing so many high jumps in a row without a break really took a toll on his energy levels.

“Not today, my pet,” the human hastened to assure him, running a gentle hand through Tony’s hair. “It’ll be quite some time before you’ve built up enough endurance to incorporate the rope into a routine. We’ll start with a few easy combinations first.”

Tony yawned and rolled over. It might’ve sounded fun if he had the energy to think about it, but he didn’t, so he just swam over to the sunning rock and somehow just managed to drag himself out of the water before he fell asleep for half an hour.

He awoke to the itch of his scales drying out. With an irritated growl, he splashed water over himself and went back to sleep.

It was almost two hours later when he finally felt alive enough to dive back into the water and swim about aimlessly.

In another hour or so, he might be able to work himself up to imagining what the human had planned for tomorrow.

No, actually, imagining didn’t take that much effort. 

Tony allowed himself to sink down to the floor of the tank. He rolled onto his back and wriggled in the sand until he was in a comfortable position.

The tank was too deep to see the surface from the bottom, but Tony gazed upwards anyway and just imagined the way the surface looked. He could picture himself doing all the tricks the human had taught him, although he couldn’t quite see himself doing all of them at once. That was going to be exhausting, especially if he added in a rope sequence.

But Tony welcomed the exhaustion. If he was too tired to get bored, life was easier.

He rolled onto his side and curled up to take another nap.

As draining as the rope jumping had been, Tony felt perfectly fine by the next morning and raring to try it again.

But the human didn’t have the rope with him when he showed up. Just the red ball and the hoop.

“So, we’re going to start with something really easy,” the human said. He placed the hoop in the water and gently nudged it so it would float away from the side.

Tony cocked his head to one side and stared at the hoop for a moment and looked back at the human. He was pretty sure he had gone through the whole gamut of hoop-related tricks, but the human apparently had more to show him.

The human tossed the ball up in the air and then caught it again. “So, we’ll see how well you can aim with your tail. Try and land the ball in the hoop there.” He tossed the ball at Tony.

Tony managed to hit the ball successfully with his tail, but the ball veered wildly all the way to the other end of the tank. His next few attempts were about the same.

No matter how careful Tony tried to be, he kept hitting the ball with way too much force to have it land just a few feet away.

“We’re going to try something else,” the human decided. He placed the ball on the surface of the water. “Now try it.”

Tony carefully slipped under the water and eyed the ball. Hitting it with his tail was the easy part. He’d had enough training with coming up through the hoop and touching the bar to be able to calculate where to place his tail. How much force he needed to put into the touch was the hard part.

In the end, it took three tries for Tony to successfully land the ball in the hoop and another five tries for him to be able to consistently get the ball in the hoop at varying distances.

“Very good, my pet.” The human tossed Tony a sardine and smiled as Tony caught it in his mouth and gulped it down. “And I’m glad to see you still have energy after our game.”

Tony rolled his eyes. The game had been mostly intellectual. Figuring out the angles and lining up the shot. Hardly a strain on Tony’s body.

“So perhaps we can add another element to this,” the human said.

Tony bobbed his head eagerly. 

The human directed Tony into a dive, had him do a flip, then slowly spiral upwards as he raised his tail out of the water to hit the ball.

It all seemed like needless movement to Tony. Frittering around underwater beforehand didn’t make it any harder to hit ball or really add to the game at all. When the human tried to get him to repeat the stupid moves, Tony just stared him down and lashed his tail.

He wanted to learn new tricks, damnit. Or learn some fun, challenging combinations of tricks. Swimming about was neither fun nor challenging.

“Please, my pet,” the human coaxed. “Do it for me.”

Tony snorted. He would do it for the fish, maybe. But not for the human. Why should Tony care what the human wanted?

“Perhaps we’ll try again tomorrow when you’re in a more cooperative mood,” the human said. He fished the toys out of the water.

Tony huffed and dove back under the water. He still had plenty of energy so he chased after a few fish until he was ready for his daily nap.

He didn’t know why the human was so insistent on slow, boring stuff, but it was probably his ridiculous sense of concern at fault. Tony had gotten tired jumping over the rope, so therefore to compensate for it, the human wanted to give him easy stuff to do to force him to take a break.

By the next morning, he was hopeful the human would come to his senses and see Tony was definitely rested and raring to go and show him some more exciting things.

But the first thing out of the human’s mouth the next morning was, “Are we ready to try the sequence again?”

Tony hissed at him.

“How am I to create a routine if you refuse to learn any choreography?” the human said.

Tony didn’t give a damn about choreography. He just wanted to learn more parts of the mega trick.

“Be reasonable, my pet,” the human wheedled. “You have to take a slight break between tricks or you’ll wear yourself out far too quickly. Just think about how difficult it is for you to jump the entire length of the rope. Nine jumps in a row is tiring. But it wouldn’t be as difficult if you took a break to do other tasks in between jumps.”

Tony snorted. The difficulty was one of the things he liked about it. If it was too easy, it was boring. He understood taking a small break here and there, just enough to recover his strength for another difficult task. But this was ridiculous. Hitting the ball into the hoop wasn’t hard.

The human sighed heavily. “Okay, we’ll do this a little differently.” 

Tony listened patiently as the human came up with another plan. This time, Tony was meant to jump over the ball, come up on the underside, and then hit the ball into the hoop.

This idea sounded a lot more promising.

Tony bobbed his head enthusiastically as the human gestured to the ball. This, he was willing to do.

He swam around the ball and the hoop, lifting the hoop into a better position with his tail. The splashes from the jump would jostle it anyway, but at least it would start in a good spot. And then he moved himself into position for the jump.

It was a short jump. He barely needed to clear the water’s surface to go over the ball, but Tony still carefully angled his body so he’d break the surface cleanly and cause the least amount of splash.

He put the same amount of care into adjusting himself underwater and bringing his tail up to hit the ball.

“Bravo!” the human cheered as Tony bobbed to the surface to survey his attempt. “You’re doing so well, my pet.”

Tony swam to the side of the tank and accepted the human’s pets. He was pleased with the new trick. It was still incredibly simple, but much improved. Now that he had demonstrated his skill, perhaps the human would work on making the trick even better.

“How are you doing, my pet?” the human asked as he scratched Tony’s scalp. “Feeling up to another part to our game?”

Tony eagerly shoved his head into the human’s hands and chirped excitedly.

The human chuckled. “Very well. Let’s see what else I can come up with.”

Tony was thrilled as the human added more and more parts to the trick. Each day, the human made the trick slightly more difficult. The pace was a little slower than Tony would have liked, but after a few weeks, a mega trick was starting to take shape. The human added in a few of his dumb choreography sections in every so often, but Tony reluctantly admitted that they helped now.

As the trick got more and more complex, Tony occasionally struggled to remember the order of the smaller tricks. He didn’t think it was that big of a deal which thing came first, but the human had a very specific order in mind. Tony wasn’t going to complain too much about the human’s pickiness. It was just another layer of difficulty for the challenge.

“Perhaps a little music will help you understand the routine I’m putting together,” the human said. He placed a laptop on top of the metal storage cabinet that held all the awesome toys and wheeled it closer. “Just listen to the rhythm of the song and picture yourself making those movements.”

Tony tipped his head to one side and considered the music. He wasn’t entirely sure he liked the song. It was definitely energetic and upbeat, but just not his style.

“It’s called ‘We Built This City.” The human chuckled. “I’m sure you don’t understand the irony involved, but it amuses me.”

If the human found anything funny about this song, his sense of humor had to be broken. But, whatever. 

“Now, listen,” the human said. “This is where you jump the metal bar.”

Well, if the human said so. Nothing about the song particularly said jumping the bar to Tony.

“And this is the part where you hit the ball into the hoop. Do you hear it?”

Tony shrugged. He supposed the human was referencing the drum beat. It was a stretch, but maybe it sounded just like hitting the ball with his tail.

“Let’s try a few things out,” the human said. He paused the song and gestured for Tony to get in the middle of the tank. “We’ll start with an easier bit.” He fast forwarded the song a little and paused it again. “So, you’re going to dive down, come up tail first, slowly spin in place three times and then tail down to the right. Think you can do that for me?”

Tony nodded. This wasn’t the first time the human had asked him to do the same silly bit, but it would be the first time he was doing it with music.

The human pressed play. “And go!”

Tony obediently dove into the water and allowed himself to slowly float back to the surface with his tail outstretched. Spin, spin, spin and let his tail slap back down onto the surface. Easy stuff.

He resurfaced and waited for the human’s next task, but the human was busily muttering to himself about the timing being off.

Tony whined and slapped the water with his tail. He was ready for the next part, damnit.

“Let’s run that by one more time,” the human said. “I need you to really listen to the music and let it flow through your movements.” 

He rewound the song and pressed play again. “So, this where you dive down,” he said. He lifted his left hand overhead and then brought it down to his waist. “Then you come up.” He lifted his hand with one finger pointed upwards. “Spin in place. And then over to the right.” He smacked his palm against his right arm. “So, I need you to do it just like that.”

Tony frowned at him. Whatever the human was doing with his hands looked really confusing.

“Go on,” the human coaxed. “Get into position.”

Tony rolled his eyes, but he moved back into position.

“And go.”

Tony repeated the same sequence of movements, making a little bit more effort to listen to the music beneath the water. From what he could tell, the human had brought out the music to put a time limit on his movements. And that was an interesting new challenge. But Tony was going to do just fine. He’d make it through the sequence well within the time limit. Speeding up his spin, Tony flopped back into the water a couple seconds before the human’s schedule.

He felt pleased with his accomplishment when he surfaced, but the human only shook his head with a sigh.

“Pet, why do you have to make this so difficult?”

Tony growled and angrily lashed his tail. What the hell was the human talking about? He had done everything he asked, even better than he asked. He should be rewarded for his skill.

“I’ll go over the timing again,” the human said. He started playing the song again, pausing the music every second or two to explain to Tony exactly what movement he should be doing.

Tony groaned. Oh god, he was expected to hit each component at a precise time? God, this sounded annoyingly hard. And he had to do this shit for an entire song? That was going to be next to impossible.

“I don’t want to hear any whining,” the human said. “You like to be challenged and this will certainly be challenging for you.”

Tony huffed. The human did have a point, although this wasn’t the kind of challenge he liked.

“Let’s take it from the top.”

Frustratingly, the human forced Tony to practice again and again and again until he finally got the timing right. By then, Tony was tired and grumpy and the human’s praise didn’t make him happy. The fish didn’t even make him happy although he was very hungry after so much hard work. Tony snapped its spine and shoved it into his mouth without really tasting it, then floated down to the cave to pout about what a terrible day it had been.

The next morning, the human insisted on more music. Tony snarled at the laptop as the human set it up, but he started playing the annoying song anyway.

“We made progress yesterday,” the human said. “Not as much as I would have liked, but the choreography is definitely coming together.”

Tony rolled onto his back and made a gagging sound.

“Enough playing around, pet. We have work to do.”

Tony whined. He missed the day when the tricks had been fun, not work.

The human started up the music on his laptop and played another short section. “So, we’re going to do another few seconds today and see if we can add it on to yesterday’s work.”

At least the human was incorporating jumps into his choreography today. Tony was willing to endure the music if the human had more exciting tricks for him to do.

“Just feel how the music swells,” the human said. “This is the moment where you put in a lot of speed underwater to prepare for your jump.”

Tony nodded. The higher the jump, the deeper he had to swim to get momentum. 

“And you’ll do a backflip here. Get as much height as you can, but make sure to land quickly. We need to keep up with the rhythm of the music.”

Yeah, yeah, the stupid music whatever. Tony lashed his tail, impatient to get back to the jumping.

“And go,” the human said.

Tony skimmed along the surface and then dove down sharply, getting as much depth as fast as he could before rocketing back to the surface for a magnificent backflip. There. The human wouldn’t have any criticism about his jump. tony bobbed back to the surface.

“No, no, no,” the human said. “You can’t surface here. After the jump, you transition into your spins. Remember your bit from yesterday?”

Tony scowled. Yes, he remembered the annoying part from yesterday and he wasn’t particularly interested in doing it again.

“You’re going to do your jump and then the spins and we’ll have a nice section of choreography. Won’t that be nice?”

Tony huffed. It would be nice to get it over with.

“Let’s try this one more time. And instead of surfacing, you bring your tail up and move into the spins.”

Tony grumbled, but he moved into position. 

Skim the surface. Dive down. Backflip. Raise tail. Spin, spin, spin. And done. Hopefully.

Cautiously, Tony swam to the surface. Surely this time, he’d have done everything to the human’s satisfaction and they could move on to something more exciting.

“No,” the human said with a gusty sigh. “That’s not right.”

Not right? Tony huffed indignantly. He had done everything in order, just as the human had asked.

“You’re not keeping your tail vertical when you do your spins. Let’s not get sloppy, pet. Try it again, one more time.”

Goddamnit. Okay, fine. If the human was going to be picky about it.

With a heavy sigh, Tony moved back into position and went through all the moves again, making sure to hit every move with precision.

And the human still wasn’t happy about it.

“You’re off beat, my pet. Do it again and remember to keep up with the music.”

Tony was sick and tired of this choreography. He had tried over and over and over and over and over again and the human was never satisfied. The human wanted him to move faster to keep up with the song and also scolded him for being sloppy if he went too fast.

He had tried the same choreography over ten times and it still wasn’t right. 

The human’ shoulders slumped. “It’s no use. I’m pushing you beyond your capabilities.”

Yes, finally. Finally the human understood his expectations were ridiculous.

“It looks like my life’s dream will never be realized,” the human said with a heavy sigh. He patted Tony’s head. “It’s okay, my pet. You tried your best. But a whole routine is fare beyond your skills.”

Tony cocked his head to one side and whined as the human walked away. That was it? The human was just going to give up on teaching him anything?

He floated back down to the bottom of the tank and curled up in a ball. It was so unfair. He was good at things. Just not at the things the human wanted him to do. And now the human was just going to write him off as unteachable.

Goddamnit. He should have splashed water over the laptop when he had the chance.


End file.
